David Stremme

David Stremme
David Stremme
	Stremme in 2011
Born	June 19, 1977 (age 47); South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Achievements	2020 World Short Track Championship UMP Modified Winner; 2008 Winchester 400 Winner
Awards	2002 ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year; 2003 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
	200 races run over 9 years
2014 position	43rd
Best finish	24th (2007)
First race	2005 USG Sheetrock 400 (Chicago)
Last race	2014 AAA 400 (Dover)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	146 races run over 7 years
2011 position	112th
Best finish	10th (2004)
First race	2003 Pepsi 300 (Nashville)
Last race	2011 Ford 300 (Homestead)
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
	4 races run over 3 years
Best finish	56th (2008)
First race	2006 Kroger 250 (Martinsville)
Last race	2011 Fast Five 225 (Chicagoland)
	Statistics current as of September 28, 2014.

David Andrew Stremme (born June 19, 1977) is an American professional stock car racing driver.

Early career

Stremme was born in South Bend, Indiana. His racing roots can be traced back to Midwestern short track racing, where he followed in the footsteps originally cast by his Great Uncle in the 1950s. Stremme's first stock car victory came in the early 1990s at New Paris Speedway, while behind the wheel of his mother's street stock ride. Once track officials realized that he was only 15 years old however, he was forced to temporarily give up driving.^{[citation needed]}

Once he reached legal driving age, Stremme moved to the Midwestern short tracks scene. David is an avid race car builder and has a great understanding of the cars he races. Being part of a racing family (father, mother, and brother) racing is his life. During his career, he earned 24 feature wins, two Rookie of the Year titles and two track championships in just four years. From the local tracks, Stremme became a winner in the Kendall Late Model Series and soon joined American Speed Association (ASA), where he was named the 2002 ASA Rookie of the Year.

During 1998, 1999, and 2000, Stremme raced for the ISES Performance Group, Inc. The team was made up of Stremme's racing friends and sponsored by Industrial Safety and Environmental Services, Inc. New cars were purchased and Stremme initiated alliances with top suppliers of engines, chassis, and shock manufacturers.

In only his first start in a Kendall Late Model Series car completely assembled by Stremme at Winchester Speedway, he set a new track record and finished 4th in the race. Subsequent to this event an even larger strategy was set forth. Under the direction of Tris Gour, President, Industrial Safety and Environmental Services, Inc. a new car was purchased to compete in the NASCAR November Phoenix International Raceway race. The new car was completely built by David with help from friends. It was the first time the team had ventured significantly far away from home.

As a budget did not allow for crew chiefs or fabricators, Gour and Stremme formed an alliance with Robert Hamke. Hamke is a well renowned chassis builder, racer, and crew chief. Although the car built was not a Hamke Chassis, Hamke accepted the opportunity to work with Stremme and the crew, and accepted the challenge based upon reference from Performance Technologies (engine builders) and the owner of LeftHander Chassis. Hamke had a great respect for the owner of LeftHander. In addition, Performance Technologies had built several engines for both chassis builders (Hamke and Lefthander) clients.

While at Phoenix, the team qualified fourth and led several laps during the race. Stremme led the majority of the race and was passed on the last lap coming out of turn three by Scott Hansen. Subsequent to the race, it was found that Hansen was disqualified as his car was equipped with an illegal carburetor spacer plate giving him an unfair horsepower advantage.^{[citation needed]}

The local news media reported on this issue but only a financial penalty was given to Hansen.^{[citation needed]} Although upset by the loss, the ISES Performance Group, Inc. and Stremme had gained the respect of the Hansen Group. Hansen later called upon Stremme to race his car at Winchester due to a conflict with his racing schedule.

NASCAR career

2003–2005

Stremme pits the No. 14 Dodge during the 2005 Kroger 200.

After signing a driver development contract with Chip Ganassi Racing, Stremme started 15th in his Busch Series debut at Nashville Superspeedway in April 2003, driving the No. 1 Dodge for Phoenix Racing, and finished 7th in the race. He finished 14th in both of his next two starts, before coming to 6th at Nazareth Speedway. He led 32 laps in that race, which were the first in his career.

He finished 4th after starting 3rd at Nashville in June, and duplicated the result at the Milwaukee Mile. He had a 10th at Kentucky and a 9th at Memphis. Stremme's worst finish that year was a 31st at Dover. Due to a contract obligation, Finch had Jamie McMurray back in the car for the final two races, and Stremme moved to Braun Racing for the remaining two races. Stremme led 48 laps at Rockingham, finishing 5th, and additionally drove the No. 30 Sport Clips Dodge home in 14th. His strong finishes in his part-time schedule was enough to secure him the 2003 Busch Series Rookie of the Year award, despite competing in only 18 of the 34 races.

Stremme raced in the No. 32 TrimSpa Dodge Intrepid in 2004. Stremme started 4th and finished 6th in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Despite winning his first career pole at Milwaukee, and finishing that up with a second, Stremme's team began to run mid-pack with a handful of top-10s mixed in. Braun Racing then made the announcement that they were going to replace Stremme with Shane Hmiel, who was just coming off a suspension. Ganassi then made a deal with FitzBradshaw Racing to secure Stremme a ride. For the remainder of the 2004 season, Stremme was to replace Casey Atwood in FitzBradshaw's U.S. Navy-sponsored No. 14 Chevrolet. For the next season, FitzBradshaw's team would begin running Dodges and Stremme would be retained to drive the No. 14 full-time. In 2005, Stremme posted five top-five finishes and finishing 13th in points, when it was announced he would run full-time in the Nextel Cup Series.

2004–2007

In June 2005, Stremme made his Cup debut in 2005 driving Ganassi's R&D No. 39 Navy Dodge at Chicagoland Speedway. He started 31st and would finish 16th in his debut. He also had finishes of 42nd at Richmond and Miami, and a 36th at Charlotte. Ganassi announced Stremme would go to the Cup series, driving the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge in 2006.

In 2006, Stremme had a best finish of 11th at New Hampshire International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished 33rd in points after missing both road course races that season. In addition, he made his Craftsman Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 32nd in the No. 04 Dodge for Bobby Hamilton Racing. In addition, he won his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Michigan International Speedway, driving the No. 61 Hantz Group Dodge for Rusty Wallace. Despite solid equipment with Ganassi, Stremme failed to notch a single top 10 in 34 races.

Stremme followed up his disastrous rookie season with another poor season in 2007. He started 2007 starting 6th in the 49th annual Daytona 500 and went on to finish 11th. Three weeks later he would get his best career start, 2nd in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway he would get his first career Top 10 finish. Two weeks later he would follow that up with a career best finish, 8th in the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. During that season, Stremme shared driving duties of the No. 41 Wrigley Dodge Charger in the Busch Series with Ganassi teammate Reed Sorenson. It ran numerous paint schemes including Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, and Winterfresh. He was able to get his second career Busch pole at Nashville but ended up 11th in the race. In addition, he drove a part-time schedule in the No. 22 Supercuts Dodge for Fitz Motorsports.

2008–2012

Stremme's 2010 Cup car at Bristol in March

He was replaced in the No. 40 Dodge by Dario Franchitti in 2008 after the 2007 Indy 500 Champion was signed to drive in Sprint Cup. Stremme returned to the Nationwide Series driving for Rusty Wallace Racing, in the No. 64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet. He was originally scheduled to run a handful of races, with Chase Austin and Max Papis driving the rest of the year, but after starting the season in the top-15 in points, the schedule was modified to allow him to run every race except the road course events. He had five top-fives and sixteen top-tens, on his way to an eleventh-place points finish. In the latter portion of the year, Atreus left the team, and AVIS, Loan Star Title Loans, and the Penske Corporation became the team's new primary sponsors. He drove the No. 15 Hyprene Ergon Toyota Tundra in two Truck races that season as well, in addition to returning to the No. 40 Sprint Cup team, filling for the injured Franchitti at Talladega.

In 2009, Stremme signed to drive the No. 12 car for Penske Racing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series, replacing Ryan Newman who moved to the No. 39 car for Stewart Haas Racing. The team lost its sponsor when Verizon Wireless bought Alltel, thus negating the grandfather clause. The car was blanked similar to the Penske used in the IRL, censoring their Phillip Morris USA sponsorship with "Team Penske". Stremme nearly won the 2009 AMP Energy 500 running near the front for the lead, but a green-white checkered ruined his day, causing him to run out of gas. Throughout Stremme's season for Penske, he did not score a single top 10. Stremme was released from the contract with Penske on November 3, because their new driver for 2010, Brad Keselowski, was finished with his prior contract agreements with Hendrick Motorsports. He missed the Texas and Phoenix races and failed to qualify for the Homestead race driving for James Finch in the No. 09 car.

Stremme attempted sixteen races with Latitude 43 Motorsports in 2010, failing to make five. Stremme attempted a select number of races with newly formed Inception Motorsports in the No. 30 Chevrolet in 2011, along with a limited Nationwide Series schedule with ML Motorsports. He ran in the Sprint Cup Series for 2012 with Inception Motorsports, switching to Toyotas.^[1]

2013

For 2013, Stremme returned to the No. 30, now Swan Racing Company, with the exception of the Daytona 500 where Michael Waltrip drove the car, renumbered for the event with No. 26.^[2] Unlike Inception Motorsports, where Stremme was a start and park driver, Swan Racing has full sponsorship.

In the Camping World Truck Series inaugural running of the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway, Stremme served as the spotter for Ken Schrader.^[3]

After only recording four top-20 finishes in the first 26 races in 2013, Stremme was released by Swan Racing following the September race at Richmond International Raceway, being replaced by Cole Whitt.^[4]

2014

Stremme was signed by Circle Sport to run the No. 33 beginning at the STP 500 at Martinsville.^[5] He attempted 12 races before being released, and has not raced in NASCAR since then.

Post-NASCAR career

In 2014, Stremme founded Lethal Chassis, a dirt modified builder.^[6]

Personal life

Stremme is married to Ashley Stremme, a model whose career in that included being Mrs. North Carolina and then Mrs. United States in 2016. She has also competed in the Better Half Dash (a charity race featuring NASCAR drivers' wives driving go-karts on the infield mini-oval at Charlotte), winning the 2013 race. She also hosts two racing radio shows, Slingin' Dirt (on Motor Racing Network) and Winged Nation.^[7]^[8]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Pts	Ref
2005	Chip Ganassi Racing	39	Dodge	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI 16	NHA	POC	IND					RCH 42	NHA	DOV	TAL	KAN	CLT 36	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM 42	57th	244	^[9]
2005		40																							GLN QL^†	MCH	BRI	CAL												57th	244	^[9]
2006				DAY 28	CAL 33	LVS 33	ATL 33	BRI 36	MAR 38	TEX 21	PHO 29	TAL 34	RCH 33	DAR 25	CLT 31	DOV 41	POC 26	MCH 19	SON	DAY 16	CHI 21	NHA 11	POC 29	IND 18	GLN	MCH 28	BRI 35	CAL 36	RCH 26	NHA 20	DOV 18	KAN 26	TAL 33	CLT 15	MAR 15	ATL 39	TEX 24	PHO 18	HOM 11	33rd	2865	^[10]
2007				DAY 11	CAL 19	LVS 20	ATL 13	BRI 13	MAR 35	TEX 10	PHO 43	TAL 8	RCH 38	DAR 37	CLT 17	DOV 36	POC 23	MCH 40	SON 32	NHA 27	DAY 22	CHI 34	IND 26	POC 25	GLN 21	MCH 21	BRI 14	CAL 34	RCH 19	NHA 42	DOV 39	KAN 17	TAL 17	CLT 9	MAR 37	ATL 39	TEX 41	PHO 20	HOM 11	24th	3163	^[11]
2008				DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL 28	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	66th	84	^[12]
2009	Penske Championship Racing	12	Dodge	DAY 33	CAL 13	LVS 18	ATL 23	BRI 19	MAR 22	TEX 14	PHO 18	TAL 31	RCH 38	DAR 24	CLT 22	DOV 31	POC 34	MCH 38	SON 39	NHA 28	DAY 35	CHI 26	IND 16	POC 32	GLN 26	MCH 13	BRI 20	ATL 14	RCH 26	NHA 28	DOV 29	KAN 25	CAL 16	CLT 19	MAR 33	TAL 22	TEX	PHO		32nd	2919	^[13]
2009	Phoenix Racing	09	Chevy																																				HOM DNQ	32nd	2919	^[13]
2010	Latitude 43 Motorsports	26	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI 24	MAR 37	PHO DNQ	TEX DNQ	TAL 27	RCH 29	DAR 24	DOV 27	CLT DNQ	POC 24	MCH 30	SON	NHA 31	DAY 37	CHI 36	IND DNQ	POC DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MAR	TAL	TEX	PHO	HOM	46th	825	^[14]
2011	Inception Motorsports	30	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH 34	DAR 41	DOV 42	CLT 40	KAN 39	POC	MCH 41	SON	DAY	KEN DNQ	NHA 37	IND DNQ	POC 38	GLN	MCH 40	BRI 32	ATL DNQ	RCH 40	CHI 41	NHA 38	DOV 41	KAN 40	CLT 41	TAL	MAR 38	TEX DNQ	PHO DNQ	HOM 42	41st	80	^[15]
2012	Inception Motorsports		Toyota	DAY 37	PHO 29	LVS 28	BRI 38	CAL 39	MAR 30	TEX DNQ	KAN 38	RCH 37	TAL 39	DAR 39	CLT 38	DOV 33	POC DNQ	MCH DNQ	SON	KEN 39	DAY 35	NHA 35	IND 24	POC 34	GLN	MCH 34	BRI 37	ATL 39												36th	236	^[16]
2012	Swan Racing Company																												RCH 37	CHI 39	NHA 35	DOV DNQ	TAL 33	CLT 37	KAN DNQ	MAR 40	TEX DNQ	PHO 34	HOM 38	36th	236	^[16]
2013	Swan Racing Company			DAY	PHO 30	LVS 32	BRI 20	CAL 31	MAR 36	TEX 27	KAN 32	RCH 31	TAL 12	DAR 40	CLT 32	DOV 28	POC 28	MCH 29	SON 36	KEN 25	DAY 37	NHA 20	IND 40	POC 30	GLN 33	MCH 26	BRI 17	ATL 29	RCH 38	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	36th	362	^[17]
2014	Circle Sport	33	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR 39	TEX DNQ	DAR 36	RCH 35	TAL	KAN	CLT	DOV 37	POC	MCH 39	SON	KEN 35	DAY	NHA	IND DNQ	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI 31	ATL			NHA 40	DOV 37	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	43rd	75	^[18]
2014	Circle Sport	90	Chevy																										RCH 36	CHI										43rd	75	^[18]
^† - Qualified but replaced by Scott Pruett

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2006	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	32	28
2007	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	6	11
2009	Penske Championship Racing	Dodge	24	33
2012	Inception Motorsports	Toyota	42	37

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2003	Phoenix Racing	1	Dodge	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH 7	CAL	RCH 14	GTY 14	NZH 6	CLT	DOV 31	NSH 3	KEN 10	MLW 3	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR 11	IRP 17	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 13	DOV 21	KAN	CLT 14	MEM 9	ATL 12	PHO 13				22nd	2354	^[19]
2003	Braun Racing	30	Dodge																																	CAR 5	HOM 14		22nd	2354	^[19]
2004		30								NSH 32				RCH 35																									10th	3738	^[20]
		32		DAY 6	CAR 36	LVS 3	DAR 5	BRI 18	TEX 27		TAL 40	CAL 26	GTY 8		NZH 5	CLT 8	DOV 34	NSH 35	KEN 9	MLW 2	DAY 28	CHI 34	NHA 28	PPR 7	IRP 11	MCH 11	BRI 6	CAL 36	RCH 8	DOV 16	KAN 3	CLT 34	MEM 7
	FitzBradshaw Racing	14	Chevy																															ATL 8	PHO 21	DAR 31	HOM 12
2005	FitzBradshaw Racing	14	Dodge	DAY 40	CAL 8	MXC 22	LVS 3	ATL 13	NSH 26	BRI 38	TEX 17	PHO 3	TAL 3	DAR 6	RCH 27	CLT 8	DOV 33	NSH 6	KEN 32	MLW 5	DAY 18	CHI 20	NHA 22	PPR 35	GTY 22	IRP 5	GLN 17	MCH 22	BRI 26	CAL 9	RCH 35	DOV 19	KAN 43	CLT 23	MEM 11	TEX 18	PHO 34	HOM 32	13th	3694	^[21]
2006	Chip Ganassi Racing	41	Dodge	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW 26	DAY	CHI	NHA	MAR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	118th	85	^[22]
2007	FitzBradshaw Racing	22	Dodge	DAY DNQ	CAL 12	MXC	LVS 5	ATL 11	BRI 33		TEX 19					CLT 16	DOV						CHI 25	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH 24											41st	1554	^[23]
	Chip Ganassi Racing	41	Dodge							NSH 11		PHO 11	TAL	RCH	DAR 30			NSH 14	KEN 4	MLW	NHA	DAY
	Chip Ganassi Racing	42	Dodge																										BRI 15	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM
2008	Rusty Wallace Racing	64	Chevy	DAY 42	CAL 17	LVS 5	ATL 30	BRI 9	NSH 6	TEX 35	PHO 10	MXC	TAL 2	RCH 6	DAR 6	CLT 12	DOV 3	NSH 2	KEN 12	MLW 34	NHA 17	DAY 8	CHI 23	GTY 9	IRP 13	CGV	GLN	MCH 16	BRI 5	CAL 10	RCH 9	DOV 11	KAN 17	CLT 31	MEM 10	TEX 10	PHO 35	HOM 16	11th	3887	^[24]
2011	ML Motorsports	70	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH 20	RCH 9	DAR	DOV	IOW	CLT	CHI	MCH 12	ROA	DAY	KEN 23	NHA	NSH 16	IRP 13	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI 17	ATL	RCH 13	CHI 26	DOV	KAN 14	CLT	TEX 34	PHO 11	HOM 15		112th	0¹	^[25]

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCWTC	Pts	ref
2006	Bobby Hamilton Racing	04	Dodge	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR 32	GTY	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	83rd	67	^[26]
2008	Billy Ballew Motorsports	15	Toyota	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH 13	BRI 9	GTW	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	46th	262	^[27]
2011	RSS Racing	27	Chevy	DAY	PHO	DAR	MAR	NSH	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	KEN	IOW	NSH	IRP	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	CHI 34	NHA	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	HOM	109th	0¹	^[28]

ARCA Re/Max Series